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Gravity by John Mayer

Funny how I seem to like all the songs titled "Gravity"

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Funny how I still find all the weird pictures we took together Hilarious, just like how I would laugh so hard the first time I see them

...

Fall 2012.

Maybe it's me, but I find that we talk more often after Summer.

It has been a year...

I grew more comfortable being around her. She grew more comfortable being around me. We grew more comfortable being around each other.

I will miss the moments where we would debate who would get down from the bed to turn off the lights because the last person forgets to turn it off before getting into snuggling under covers.

I will miss the moments where we would continue our pillow talk in the dark, sharing our thoughts, experiences, childhood memories, high school middle school memories, etc. We would share a piece of our philosophy of life, sigh at unfortunate events, grateful for fortunate ones. From each other, we learnt to appreciate, love, and be thankful.

By the way, did I mention how we find solace in talking to each other, just because our outlook of life is at least, more similar to one another than to others?

We would talk, and talk, and talk, and talk, and talk... 

until silence prevails... 

until sweet dreams twinkle

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Softly As I Leave You by Michael Buble 

She came back from China with something that made me smile, every single time I look at it. And nope, I am not exaggerating. I mean every time :)

Cute little socks. Oh... *melts*

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September 2012. Chasing tornadoes. Continuing our love for photography, we set out with our cameras, despite the many tornado alerts and high wind speed.

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September 2012. Sunrise date. We planned this. Yet, we went to bed late at night, praying that we can pull ourselves out of bed in a few hours time.
"Tian! Woah! Azuzu went to see the sunrise." (referring to pictures on Facebook)
"Yeah..."
{pause}
"Pei Ning..."
"Mmmm?"
"Do you want to go see the sunrise tomorrow?"
"How?"
"Go to CCC."
"You drive?"
"Yeah."
"Is it okay for you to drive when it is still dark?"
"Should be..."

We did anyway :)

Tried to take some jump shots, we were never synchronized! After more than 50 shots (nope, again, I am not exaggerating), this was I guess the best shot that we have together.
Of course, we were exhausted after. Gave up, went back.
Satisfied.
满载而归 :)

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Someone to Watch Over Me by Ella Fitzgerald

Fall. Autumn.

Leaves were beautiful. She, as usual, captured the moments ;)

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In our new room, 120A Adirondack Hall, we shared many crazy room moments :D

We let our dogs have conversation with each other while we have ours,

We play footsies too... only a little differently :)

Chicken from Walmart as dinner, just because we can. Indulgence, in a form it was.

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Thinking About You by Norah Jones

We made a lot more crazy faces together this semester. Pictures that I still laugh at when I look at.

These are the ones that I'll never forget.

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We dressed up for Presidents' Gala :)

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At Last by Beyonce

December 2012. Finals week. Of course, it had to be the three of us, omma, her and me, spending late nights in the library. We were productive! We had to. Nevertheless, in the midst of information cramming, late night snacking, we made good use of our procrastination times by doing some stress relieving activities:

1. Taking pictures.

2. Silly faces.

3. Playing childhood games.

Fun times!

... until Fall semester ended

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Goodbye Fall 2012.

Till then,

...

moon;

Don't Know Why by Norah Jones

Did you see the moon tonight?

Suspending midway across the sky,

Mysteriously shading itself from the eyes of the world

Behind those gray smithereens of clouds.

Did you see the moon tonight?

Oh how mesmerising the facade of it;

It draws your attention, your soul,

You are caught in limbo.

Did you see the moon tonight?

It was certainly bewitching.

And you wonder if it would be 'safe' for you

To take the path that crosses the Lakeside cemetery.

Did you see the moon tonight?

After many days and nights of heaven's tears,

The sky has finally cleared up,

Exposing the Milky Way for us to gaze at.

Did you see the moon tonight?

Because I certainly do,

And am glad that I am able to,

And am glad that I can.

Love,

Lee

Regressing,

Spring 2012.

It came soon after I was back from Minnesota and Iowa, she, back from China.

Our adventure continues...

Dream A Little Dream of Me by Louis Armstrong

Rainy days like this makes people more sentimental.

At least for me, it has that magical effect
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We have different humor points, but we always seem to converge on each other when it comes to interest, thoughts, or even actions :)

Like the Chinese proverbs: 心有灵犀一点通

That's what we are...

She's the Yin to my Yang :)
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I will miss her magic hands of cleaning up the room swiftly.
From this,

To this.

Just within a matter of a few moments...
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She makes silly faces using her phone app,

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She comforts me when my jeans gave up on me.

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I'll never forget our Starbucks moments :)

She treated me a nice cup of Mocha Cookie Crumble Frappuchino on this beautiful day of May.

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Of course, time flies...

Spring semester came to an end. We took a trip down to NYC together on Amtrak, bid each other goodbyes in Penn Station for the Summer. We almost teared, like many other times saying goodbye to each other :')

Room 120D Adirondack Hall.

Goodbye. Our times together were wonderful

,

Spring 2012.

Till then, my dearest.

...

le rendezvous;

Don't Want An Ending by Sam Tsui

Life. Ironic, isn't it?

Was thinking about my beloved roommate when this came shuffled onto my playlist on Pandora

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Fall 2011.
August 2011. I first made her acquaintance. I found out after that after going a month plus without any Chinese around her, provided with her English deficiency, she was enthusiastic to finally be able to join the Fall International Student Orientation, finally be able to meet some Chinese, only to be disappointed by my lack of Chinese conversation with her :(

The very next morning...

I was entering Adirondack Hall when I caught sight of Chihiro Kobayashi, her orientation leader, speaking to her down the hallway. I remember vividly how I hesitated, whether to walk over to strike up a conversation, or to proceed back to my room as I initially intended to. I shuffled down the hallway to my right in the end to meet them. The restlessness in both their pretty faces made me realized that I have made a pretty bad decision of joining them.

After several moments of casual conversation, they finally broke to me that she was having trouble with her roommate, Visa (签证), and was looking to switch roommates. Seeing that just the morning before I left for activities, my roommate moved in and made a pretty bad impression (waking me up with noises of her moving in, then quarreling with her parents over the phone with rude attitude), I promptly agreed to be roommate with her.

Ha! I still remember the look on her face. Wide eyes of disbelief with hints of relief.

"Really? Really?"

"Yeah! I can be your roommate."

"Really?"

"Mmhmm..."

Boy, she plunged into me like she won the powerball lottery :)

There, our journey began.

...

New York, New York by Frank Sinatra

I had help moving into our new room, 120D Adirondack Hall. I helped her after. Witnessed 签证 in action. I see why she wants to move out! 签证 had her cupboard drawer open, blocking 2/3 of the doorway entrance, didn't offer any help, expecting us to move things out of the room through that 1/3 space she left us. That's evil in action.

Next day, she moved her fridge when I was not around, hurt her feet, got stitches. It was ugly when I saw her again later in the afternoon. Funny how she put 签证 in the blame for her injury.

"签证 used black magic on me. See what became of me!"

Hahahahaha. She always makes me laugh
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We stuck together like glue soon after we became roommates. Since her vocabulary was not strong enough, guess how we communicate? The guessing game :P
All the adorable sound effects that she would make, I'm the person who guesses. Sometimes, if she recognizes the word, she would point at me excitedly with that grin on her face. Sometimes, if she doesn't know what the word I said, I would have to explain, more explaining, then I would finally give in and say it in Chinese. If I don't know the Chinese word to it, Google comes in to save the day.
Our relationship then? People would say, amazing.
Of course, we developed our unique way of communicating with each other :)
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Beyond The Sea by Kevin Spacey

Our first adventure together: Bubble wand :)

Yes! She was unpacking and I saw this bubble wand of hers. I wanted to play so she grabbed my camera and we went out to have a little fun. It was then, I discovered her love for photography. She's a pretty passionate photographer herself. She loves to take pictures of other people. Candid.

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Our first pictures together... ♥

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September 2011. I bought a huge pack of gummy bear. We camwhored with the gummy fountain :)

October 2011. Halloween. We went costume shopping, albeit not buying anything.

Halloween night. Look at all the candies we collected around the neighborhood!

November 2011. Our first outing together. We went to Burlington, following the trip organized by International Student Services (ISS). We shared bubble tea. We played with colorful shades. We had fun.

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November 2011. It was ice-skating day with the original Mow group. She didn't join us in the rink, just sat around in the bench and took many great pictures of others having fun. I couldn't bear leaving her alone, away from everyone else, since I convinced her to join us in the Field House. I went to sit with her. We took pictures of course :)

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I Think It Is Going To Rain Today by Norah Jones

November 2011. First Plattsburgh snowfall together. We are random. No. She is random. So it was our first time experiencing snowfall together, as roommates. The first time for me was during Thanksgiving break, when she was away.
"Pei Ning, it is snowing outside."
"Yeah I know."
{pause}
"Want to go out to take pictures?"
"Now?"
"Yeah."
"Its two something in the morning now!"
"Yeap."
"Okay..."
So we geared up and we out with her cameras. While she experimented with her new Leica toy, I fooled around with her Casio magic camera :)

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December 2011. She and Omma gave me my first birthday party, Elmo themed. I cried. I cried so bad like a sad, sad child. Of course, it not only caught me off guard, my 'grief' caught everyone off guard as well. I was too happy. Tears of joy. I was touched.

Semester ended shortly after.
Goodbye Fall 2011

...

Change. GE 13.

When all hell breaks loose, keep calm and carry on

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This could definitely be applied to my current academic situation, as well as (more importantly) the situation in my home country, Malaysia. Today, may or may not be the day that Malaysia creates history. My country's general election is today. As much as we all want a fair election, there's always those kind of people, who mess things up, who cheat, who don't play fair. There's always those kind of people. Am I not right?

For many years, my country's people has been battling with the government, who on the surface made everything seemed like our country is such a democratic one, but in reality resembles more authoritarian.

NO! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

Along the way, comes people who realized how much Malaysia has been handicapped by the ruling power. Along the way, formed different organizations, aiming to create awareness for a better country, a better government.

Bersih! This means "clean" in malay.

What more do I need to say? The people has spoken! We want a country free from corruption, free from oppression, free from racial discrimination, free from racial segregation! We want a truly united nation, a place where everyone feels belonged, feels safe. We want a place all Malaysian could call "home".

General Election. Today.

Please. I urge all Malaysians. Deliberate before casting your votes today. Our country has been governed by the same ruling party ever since Independence Day in 1957. It could definitely afford some change. Let us usher in real peace and harmony within the country by voting for the better. We don't want to be ruled by fear, threats and scams anymore! We want a safe country to live in! We want a truly united nation by heart and soul, not through propagandas and phony slogans because we all know that behind the politicians' elegant facades lie a lifestyle of grotesque luxury and hypocrisy.

Most importantly, stay safe.

GE 13. Ubah! Ini kalilah!

Much love from the States,

a fellow Malaysian